Head CT > Degenerative > Pick's Disease > Pathophysiology

Pick's Disease - Pathophysiology

Pick's disease is considered in neuropathology as one of the tau-opathies. Tau is a microtubule-associated protein that is believed to act as a stabilizer of cell structure in neurons. Defects in this protein in individuals with sporadic (90%) or familial (10%) forms of Pick's disease predispose their cortical neurons to undergo degeneration and vacuolization. These degenerating neurons may also display Pick's bodies, which microscopically are cytoplasmic inclusions that represent ubiquinated tau fibrils. Due to severe neuronal loss and gliosis, atrophy becomes readily apparent in those regions of the cortex most commonly affected, the frontal and temporal lobes. This atrophy may be asymmetric.